Courtesy of Tim Nguyen | Citrus Photography
Douglas Post’s Bloodshot represents a couple of firsts for Vertigo Theatre: it’s the first time the company has imported a production from overseas and it’s the first time it has programmed a one-man show.
When artistic director Craig Hall came across the script he recalls thinking it was a good opportunity to do something different. However he also admits to being a “little nervous” about who to cast considering the actor not only needs to portray several different characters throughout the full-length play but also has to play the saxophone do a comedy routine and perform sleight-of-hand magic.
Post suggested that Hall bring the original production from London’s West End to Calgary — in fact Post wrote Bloodshot for a specific British actor Simon Slater who has appeared in shows as diverse as Mamma Mia! and The Spice Girls Musical to another Post thriller Earth and Sky.
While that was a new venture for Vertigo the play itself is still rooted in the company’s tradition. Besides being firmly in murder-mystery territory the show will have its own Forensic Friday an audience engagement initiative that has been taking place at Vertigo Theatre for more than a decade.
Hall says Forensic Fridays started under the artistic directorship of Mark Bellamy as an opportunity to engage audiences in a way that’s more “uniquely Vertigo” than a standard audience talk-back evening. An expert takes to the stage after one Friday evening performance to answer audience questions about how real-life present-day cops investigate crime. Currently Dave Sweet of Calgary Police Service a former undercover narcotics officer and member of the homicide unit heads up the event.
“We encourage people to ask about crimes in a show how they would be dealt with today” says Hall adding that many Vertigo shows are period pieces and it’s interesting to see how crime investigation has changed — or not — with the advent of new technologies. “We try to do our research in advance but every time it’s a bit of an eye opener to see how accurate we are or how off the mark we are.”
On Friday February 6 Hall expects audience members will have questions about crime-scene photography. In Bloodshot Slater plays an alcoholic photographer traumatized by his experiences shooting the dead during the bombing of London in the Second World War and afterwards as a police photographer.
Audiences meet Slater in 1957 as he’s contemplating suicide after a strange photo assignment which involves following a beautiful young immigrant woman takes a deadly turn. That is followed by murder an unsolved sexual assault and encounters with an Irish comedian an American saxophone player and a Russian magician and nightclub owner all played by Slater.
Interwoven with this tale of intrigue are glimpses of 1950s London a time and place of change and social upheaval. “This play takes place at a particular time when there was a mass influx of immigrants coming to London from the West Indies and when some neighbourhoods in London were being ghettoized” says Hall. “We tend to consider race an American problem. It’s interesting to see that issue from the perspective of the U.K.”
Furthermore Bloodshot touches on the issue of rape and of a woman’s fight to have her voice heard — something that as Hall points out is still relevant today with the news full of the transgressions of Bill Cosby and Jian Ghomeshi.
“Douglas isn’t just out to write a thriller. It’s the kind of thriller that demands to be taken seriously” says Hall.
Following Bloodshot the next Forensic Friday will be held April 3 in conjunction with Vertigo’s production of The Haunting and will feature a special guest who is an expert on parapsychology.
Bloodshot runs until February 15 at Vertigo Theatre with Forensic Friday taking place after the Friday February 6 show.
